Transcendental Generalization

A number of recent articles have suggested a connection between Alzheimer’s Disease and Diabetes. Art De Vany summarized the connection in his recent post.

PBS’s Nightly Business Report on December 23rd interviewed an expert on closed-end funds. Like (open-end) mutual funds, these are pools of money invested in a diversified portfolio. Unlike mutual funds, these may trade at a discount or premium to the net asset value of the securities they pool, creating opportunities for gains based on supply and demand. Investopedia has an introductory article. ETFConnect provides some free research. The expert noted that several funds exhibit a pattern of trading at a significant discount in December, and at a premium in January. Apparently this is due to investors selling at the end of the year for tax purposes. Furthermore, these funds can also pay dividends.

Paul Kangas reviewed the attractive gains made on the expert’s recommendations from last year, and asked him for more recommendations, which I think are worth looking at. The yields on these funds are quite attractive, making them reasonable to hold even if the December-January jump turns out to be modest. Recommendations included

• Pioneer Tax Advantage Balanced Trust, ticker symbol PBF, trading at a 16.5% discount as of 12/28, with a yield of 5.41%
• Salomon Brothers Capital & Income, ticker symbol SCD, trading at a 15% discount as of 12/28, with a yield of 6.97%. (Free S&P Stock Report available.)
• Nuveen Preferred and Convertible Income Fund 2, ticker symbol JQC, trading at a 15.5% discount as of 12/28, with a yield of 8.39%. (Free S&P Stock Report available.)
• Eaton Vance Short Duration Diversified Income Fund, ticker symbol EVG, trading at an 11% discount as of 12/28, with a yield of 8.41%. (Free S&P Stock Report available.)
• Salomon Brothers High Income Fund II, ticker symbol HIX, trading at a 13% as of 12/28, with a yield of 8.34%. (Free S&P Stock Report available.)
• Insured Municipal Income Fund, ticker symbol PIF, trading at a 16% discount as of 12/23, with a yield of 4.86%.
• John Hancock Tax Advantage Dividend Income, ticker symbol HTD, trading at a 15.5% discount as of 12/28, with a yield of 6.83%

This article made me laugh. The performanace of algorithms for fingerprint recognition can be dramatically improved when they are modified to look for evidence of perspiration. The modifications prevent them from validating fingerprints lifted off Play-Doh, or from the fingers of cadavers.

Lest anyone doubt that the meanings of words are subject to change under the influence of socioeconomic forces, this article from NPR’s Morning Edition describes the search for a name to make kangaroo meat more palatable.

This Morning Edition article about the invention of colored bubbles just made me feel good. It is the story of a man who single-mindedly and passionately pursued an invention that will bring simple fun to the world, especially to children. A modern-day Santa Claus, I think! I can’t wait to buy a bottle or three.

The New York Times had a nice editorial (registration required) on the recent victory of scientific knowledge over religious ignorance in Dover, PA.

The judge found that intelligent design violated the centuries-old ground rules of science by invoking supernatural causation and by making assertions that could not be tested or proved wrong. Moreover, intelligent design has not gained acceptance in the scientific community, has not been supported by peer-reviewed research, and has not generated a research and testing program of its own. The core argument for intelligent design - the supposedly irreducible complexity of key biological systems - has clear theological overtones. As long ago as the 13th century, St. Thomas Aquinas argued that because nature is complex, it must have a designer.

NPR also had extensive coverage. An important characteristic of the debate was well-articulated by Stan Cox for AlterNet. He says proponents of intelligent design

claim to be fighting for nothing more than the right to open inquiry in public schools. Meanwhile, scientists are depicted as a self-appointed priesthood banning all but their own view of life.

Our own President has, under this claim, supported the teaching of intelligent design. This makes it difficult to argue against intelligent design without appearing opposed to that most fundamental of American values: free speech.

The question is whether the public schools are a forum for the exercise of free speech. If so, then shouldn’t “open inquiry” be allowed into all kinds of beliefs? As Bobby Henderson says, why not discuss evidence that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster? Large numbers of crackpots have promoted not just intelligent design but theories

• that the Earth is flat
• that astrology can predict the future
• that the moon landing was a hoax
• that the Holocaust never occurred

If one good thing comes out of the debate, it will be an acknowledgement that public schools are not forums for free speech. They are not forums for the development of destructive and paranoid delusions. They are for the communication of truth, knowledge, and skill. If another good thing comes out of the debate, it will be a clarification of how truth should be determined and what constitutes knowledge.

Peter Drucker, in his autobiography, Adventures of a Bystander, writes of Marshall McLuhan and Buckminster Fuller:

Bucky Fuller and Marshall McLuhan exemplify for me the importance of being single-minded. The single-minded ones, the monomaniacs, are the only true achievers. The rest, the ones like me, may have more fun, but they fritter themselves away. The Fullers and the McLuhans carry out a “mission”‘; the rest of us have “interests.” Whenever anything is being accomplished, it is being done, I have learned, by a monomaniac with a mission.

What, if anything, do you wish to accomplish? Can you make it your mission? Can you be monomaniacal about it?

M Go Blue!

Read the full article.

(Via Digg)

Previously in Transcendental Generalization:

Since childhood, during visits to India, I had observed that bribes must be paid to get things done there. Indians frequently and casually discussed the costs (generally higher) and benefits (availability, timely delivery, and even quality) of black market goods and services in comparison to their government-sanctioned counterparts.

An article on Marketplace discussed widespread corruption in Mexico.

Recently, I decided it makes sense to track economic indicators, their respective effects on various industries, and their trends. Such information would be valuable in making assessments of return and risk on stocks. (I use inflationdata.com for historical inflation rates.) I found that the US Department of Commerce has a Bureau of Economic Analysis that runs a nice site for data on such indicators. Similarly, the US Department of Energy has an Energy Information Administration that runs a site for data. The non-profit Conference Board publishes consumer confidence data at its web site.